BASIC THEMES IN TRANSFORMATION THEOLOGY

The basic idea underlying this theology is a very simple one. It can be summarised as the principle of transformation or becoming. We take the view that the primary site of that transformation is in the person of Christ himself, as risen and exalted. We add the term 'exalted' because it is a central theme for us. It is only at the point of Christ's exaltation, or glorification, that the power of God is fully realised in him. We recognise that it is the wounded, risen and exalted Christ who is the living Christ of faith.

1. CHRIST AS MATERIAL AND FORMAL OBJECT OF THEOLOGYBut theology has not always focused upon the living Christ of faith. Not since the end of the classical period and the beginning of the early modern period have we had an ontology of the living Christ. Pre-modern Christians understood him to be in heaven, at the highest point of the 'closed' or 'finite' universe (in the 'throne room' of God) and so still in continuity with our space and time. They had a cosmological ontology of the living Christ. But with the break-up of the traditional cosmos and the loss of a viable cosmological theology, Christianity effectively lost its connection with the doctrine of the exaltation of Christ. We thus also lost an important element in theology's continuity with faith. In the modern period, this doctrine of the continuing, glorified life of Christ became illegible across the denominations, and has been neglected by liberal and conservative theologians alike.